Answer to addiction crisis is full-time care

Re: “Thirteen deaths in one day linked to drugs,” Dec. 18. The article quotes Premier Christy Clark as saying she believes the province will stem the crisis given the resources and imagination that it’s devoting to the problem.

It does not take imagination to combat the issue. We need more than recovery beds and crisis management. We need a return to full-time care for the most vulnerable patients at the start of their illness so they don’t need recovery beds. This is called tertiary care and is most beneficial at the beginning of a person’s illness.

My family member is currently transitioning home after a full year in such a facility. His goal in the past was to be homeless, free, living on the sidewalk or in the forest, with no rules and being high all the time. He almost lost his battle with street drugs more than once.

It has taken a year of 24-hour care and supervision to bring his thoughts in line enough to appreciate a warm, comfortable, sober, living environment. He is now sleeping well and eating well and choosing healthy behaviours. Tertiary care has managed to ward off addiction issues.

My heart breaks for all the friends and families of people who have not been so lucky.

While the $43 million earmarked to respond to the current drug crisis is much needed, I know first hand that lives can be saved if investments are made in making tertiary care more available to prevent or minimize the drug-use issue in the first place. Sue Pazder Sidney